That's what I use. No real reason why but I've always used that with my dogs. Trainers say to use single word commands etc. and my uncle who used to train police dogs kept telling me I'd ruin my GSD Lady because I didn't do that. It worked however so I'm using it with Molly.
Molly went through the same phase you talk about. When I get the treats out and put them in my pocket she knows we are going to be doing OB so she will try every trick in her arsenal, sit, down, rug. If I give her one command and she does something else I just say, "no that's not it" and let her try another. When she did the one I wanted I said, "Good girl!". It wasn't long before you could see the light go off. It's quite noticeable. The dog's whole demeanor and posture will change as they "get it". You can actually see the doggy smile. They will also look so proud of themselves when they get it right the first time.
Connie Sutherland Moderator Reg: 07-13-2005
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Loc: North-Central coast of California
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It's fun, isn't it?
BTW, the reason I chose one syllable for my marker was just that I wanted the marking of the wanted behavior to be precise. As Ed phrases it, it's a concise snapshot of exactly the moment when the wanted thing happened.
So for me, not only did I want it to be very quick and short, but I also wanted it not to be two words where one of them could be linked with other words and become something else. Also, "good girl" would be something I might say often, after a session, on the way home from our club, or any time I want to indicate general approval and pleasure (as opposed to a marker -- which for me is quite different).
So "good" would be fine for me to work with.
OTOH, you do great with two syllables, so obviously it's not universal.
Connie Sutherland Moderator Reg: 07-13-2005
Posts: 31571
Loc: North-Central coast of California
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Quote: matt wyrick
The dog's whole demeanor and posture will change as they "get it". You can actually see the doggy smile. They will also look so proud of themselves when they get it right the first time.
It's true! It's no wonder at all that this kind of ob training is so great for building confidence in a shy or anxious or timid dog, and also great for strengthening the handler-dog bond.
This kind of training can even be used as a distraction from something that scares a dog: thunder, the vacuum cleaner, the lawn mower. The concentration on the commands and the markers and rewards works even better than a game or just a treat as a distraction, I think because it's not just good at diverting the dog, but it's also a prideful thing for him.
I think it depends on the dog too. Some dogs with high strung temperaments and short attention spans need the instant feedback to show them exactly what they need to do. Molly has a pretty good attention span. I can give her a command and she'll scratch a flea then go do it. Got some flea meds today hopefully that will stop in a day or two.
I'll give some OB commands a try if she's afraid of thunder tonight. Looks like the first good line of summer thunderstorms are going to be hitting us tonight. NWS weather radio is going off as I type. I'm a weather spotter so it looks like I'll be stuck on the computer till early morning. Need to schedule some of these storms during the day.
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Re: Over-training??
[Re: Connie Sutherland ]
#196718 - 05/29/2008 10:31 PM 
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